Friday, 9Feb07
Highlights: 1 ½ Fridays?? On the airplane all day, then arrived in LA in the morning. I’m home!
Today was somewhat of a mystery, but I think I had 1 ½ Fridays, as 15 hours magically appeared or disappeared as I crossed the international date-line. I forgot about that… which reached up to bite me in a few hours.
My 7 hour flight to Tokyo left Singapore at 6am. I was in a brand new airplane. Boeing 777 I think. I could control my own individual tv monitor in front of me with about 50 movie options. I watched The Guardian & That Thing You Do.
Guardian, with Kevin Kostner & Ashton Kutcher. I was surprised to actually like a role that Ashton Kutcher played. Never thought I’d say that. Well done Coast Guard flick.
That Thing You Do: Tom Hanks film about “The Wonders” & the era of rock n roll bands in 1950s America. Watching free movies definately makes the flight more fun.
We were in Tokyo for about an hour, then launched on a 13 hour flight to LA. I stopped counting the local time, since it was changing so fast, it didn’t matter anyways. It’s funny to notice how differently the Japanese dress from Indonesians though.
This is my first time on Japanese soil (however brief), but it was clear to see how different styles of dress are here. Girls wear trendy boots & high heels, shirts that show their shoulders, short skirts with tights underneath, trendy jackets & oversize sunglasses (inside) fit for a fashion show. Guys also looked like they walked out of fashion catalogues. True, this was the international terminal, so I’m probably looking at a narrow slice of Japanese society. It was just a striking difference from what I normally see on the streets of Indonesia: flip-flops, jeans & jilbabs.
The long-haul leg to LA went fairly smoothly as well. We were in the big 747 (= the double-decker. It was little older (different seats, no individual TVs),,, but as I faded in & out of consciousness, it really didn’t matter too much. I stayed awake long enough, at one point, to watch The Queen: the new film about Tony Blair & the royal family’s reaction to Princess Di’s death in 1997. huh! Interesting show.
Anyways, after all that travel… 28 hours in total, it was still Friday morning when I arrived! I arrived a full day early! I walked off the plane around 8am, expecting to see my uncle waiting for me in the terminal… I was a little earlier than guesstimated, so I waited a bit. I gave my old cell phone away last year before coming to Indonesia. No sense paying for service I’m not using! But now I had no phone, so after ½ an hour, I collect called my mom in St. Louis to track down my uncle. Casually asking a passerby for the local time & date, he said it’s “Friday”… huh?
Damn! I figured leaving Thursday night on a flight I knew to be 30 hours, would get me home Saturday morning! (ie. 10Feb) Uncle T is still in Arizona, trekking across the final ½ of his cross-country trip from Boston! So much for the plan we were both working with. Ha ha! I just hung myself out to dry for a day! Nice!
Not to worry; I’m independent. A bus ride, train + cab got me home to San Diego in just a few hours, and in time to divert my uncle directly to SanDiego instead of LA.
It’s great being home. So many things jump out to me, after a while out of the country.
Our roads really are a lot wider, our cars bigger & public transportation cleaner. Americans themselves are taller & carry a touch more weight than most Asians. Everyone wears shoes here, few flip flops. Girls wear mini skirts, strappy shirts with shoulders & stomachs showing- and that’s normal here. Blonde hair everywhere. America is much more diverse: Latinos, Whites, Blacks, Asians, European blends… they’re all here; and every one of them can be considered “an American”.
Highlights: 1 ½ Fridays?? On the airplane all day, then arrived in LA in the morning. I’m home!
Today was somewhat of a mystery, but I think I had 1 ½ Fridays, as 15 hours magically appeared or disappeared as I crossed the international date-line. I forgot about that… which reached up to bite me in a few hours.
My 7 hour flight to Tokyo left Singapore at 6am. I was in a brand new airplane. Boeing 777 I think. I could control my own individual tv monitor in front of me with about 50 movie options. I watched The Guardian & That Thing You Do.
Guardian, with Kevin Kostner & Ashton Kutcher. I was surprised to actually like a role that Ashton Kutcher played. Never thought I’d say that. Well done Coast Guard flick.
That Thing You Do: Tom Hanks film about “The Wonders” & the era of rock n roll bands in 1950s America. Watching free movies definately makes the flight more fun.
We were in Tokyo for about an hour, then launched on a 13 hour flight to LA. I stopped counting the local time, since it was changing so fast, it didn’t matter anyways. It’s funny to notice how differently the Japanese dress from Indonesians though.
This is my first time on Japanese soil (however brief), but it was clear to see how different styles of dress are here. Girls wear trendy boots & high heels, shirts that show their shoulders, short skirts with tights underneath, trendy jackets & oversize sunglasses (inside) fit for a fashion show. Guys also looked like they walked out of fashion catalogues. True, this was the international terminal, so I’m probably looking at a narrow slice of Japanese society. It was just a striking difference from what I normally see on the streets of Indonesia: flip-flops, jeans & jilbabs.
The long-haul leg to LA went fairly smoothly as well. We were in the big 747 (= the double-decker. It was little older (different seats, no individual TVs),,, but as I faded in & out of consciousness, it really didn’t matter too much. I stayed awake long enough, at one point, to watch The Queen: the new film about Tony Blair & the royal family’s reaction to Princess Di’s death in 1997. huh! Interesting show.
Anyways, after all that travel… 28 hours in total, it was still Friday morning when I arrived! I arrived a full day early! I walked off the plane around 8am, expecting to see my uncle waiting for me in the terminal… I was a little earlier than guesstimated, so I waited a bit. I gave my old cell phone away last year before coming to Indonesia. No sense paying for service I’m not using! But now I had no phone, so after ½ an hour, I collect called my mom in St. Louis to track down my uncle. Casually asking a passerby for the local time & date, he said it’s “Friday”… huh?
Damn! I figured leaving Thursday night on a flight I knew to be 30 hours, would get me home Saturday morning! (ie. 10Feb) Uncle T is still in Arizona, trekking across the final ½ of his cross-country trip from Boston! So much for the plan we were both working with. Ha ha! I just hung myself out to dry for a day! Nice!
Not to worry; I’m independent. A bus ride, train + cab got me home to San Diego in just a few hours, and in time to divert my uncle directly to SanDiego instead of LA.
It’s great being home. So many things jump out to me, after a while out of the country.
Our roads really are a lot wider, our cars bigger & public transportation cleaner. Americans themselves are taller & carry a touch more weight than most Asians. Everyone wears shoes here, few flip flops. Girls wear mini skirts, strappy shirts with shoulders & stomachs showing- and that’s normal here. Blonde hair everywhere. America is much more diverse: Latinos, Whites, Blacks, Asians, European blends… they’re all here; and every one of them can be considered “an American”.
posted by jonathan adventures at 6:20 AM
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